Patriots strike early to get past Hurricanes

Carrollwood Day coach Jim Harte said he didn’t want his Patriots thinking about having to beat Class 1A-District 5 opponent Bishop McLaughlin, which came into Thursday afternoon’s game undefeated.

“We didn’t spend the whole pregame thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Bishop. We need revenge. We have to beat them,’ ” Harte said. “This was about playing better than we had and playing the best we can.”

Perhaps that paid off, because CDS (12-3-1, 12-1-1) took a 2-1 win against the Hurricanes (12-1-2, 10-1-2), giving the Patriots the No. 1 seed for the district tournament.

“They had plenty of chances, and I thought getting the lead like that let us do some things we normally don’t do,” Harte said. “Move the ball from here to there to there and get the job done. We know what Bishop is capable of, especially late in the game.”

The Patriots grabbed a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute on a goal from Spencer Peek, and made it 2-0 in the 48th minute when Michael Morse scored.

The Hurricanes had numerous scoring opportunities, but didn’t find the net until the 67th minute, when Eric Pitton scored his 16th goal this season. Bishop had a late push that included a great chance from leading scorer Alex Stafford (27 goals), but CDS keeper Corey Shamley, who had eight saves, made a stellar stop.